About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Monday, April 25, 2016

Jerusalem police prohibit offering of baby goats at Haram al-Sharif

Federman and wife

Jewish activists pushing for a third temple in Jerusalem attempted to ascend the Temple Mount carrying baby goats intended to be used as Passover sacrifices on Friday afternoon, as they do every year. Jerusalem police detained ten suspects in the Old City for interrogation, and seized four sacrificial goat kids.
Among those arrested were Kach activist Noam Federman from Hebron (who, as I Abu Pessoptimist, saw on the internet, is arrested every year for this reason the last couple of years), who attempts make the sacrifice every year, and Rafael Morris, an activist in the Temple Mount Faithful movement. The two were banned from entering Jerusalem before the holiday and will be questioned about breaching the ban.
“No ban will keep us from fulfilling this important religious injunction,” said Morris shortly before being arrested. “Regrettably, the Passover sacrifice is a rite that has been forgotten. If they want to arrest me they’ll need more than a ban.” The police also detained three minors who were in possession of a young goat.

Rafael Morris

According to the Temple Mount Faithful, dozens of other activists took part in the attempted sacrifice. For them, making such an offering on Passover is of the utmost importance.Last Monday the group held their annual Passover sacrifice practice ceremony on Mount Scopus, with a view of the Temple Mount. Hundreds of people took part, including Miki Zohar, a Likud parliamentarian.